


There For You

by natcahillsoo



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, College, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Forbidden Love, Humor, Light Angst, Multi, Slow Burn, Young, Young Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:21:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25132309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natcahillsoo/pseuds/natcahillsoo
Summary: Sergio Marquina has been bullied by Alberto Vicuña and his posse since secondary school. Now, they're starting college and Sergio is assuming the worst is about to come...until Raquel Murillo steps in. He falls for her but there's a problem. She's Alberto's girlfriend! Afraid of what might happen to him if he attempts to get closer to her, Sergio keeps his distance away from her, but will fate bring them together?
Relationships: Raquel Murillo/Professor | Sergio Marquina
Comments: 25
Kudos: 73





	1. First Day Jitters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This is my first story on this fandom and if you read it, I hope you enjoy it! I've been reading so many stories about our adorable Professor and Inspectora here and thought...hey, maybe I should write one! This will be a slow burn story so please keep patient :D

Sergio awoke to the deafening ring of his alarm clock. First day of college. He hadn’t even gotten up but he was already dreading it. “Hermanito! Get up! You don’t want to be late on your first day!”, he heard his older brother Andres shout from outside his door.

“Yes, yes…I’m up!”

Reluctantly, he finally got out of bed to get ready for school. After a quick shower, he put on the clothes which he had neatly folded on his desk the night before. A white t-shirt, black hoodie, denim jeans with a pair of converse shoes. He didn’t like to worry about what to wear every morning so he made it a point to plan it out the night before.

He put on his father’s dress watch and finally walked down to the dining room to have his breakfast. Sure enough, both his father and brother were wide awake.

“Buenos dias, cariño! So, excited for your first day of college? I made your favourite churros and bacon!”, his father said. Sergio gave his father an imperceptible nod and took a seat at the table. “Hermanito, you don’t have to worry alright?”, Andres suddenly said as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Worry about what?”, Sergio replied while looking away from his brother.

“Don’t do that”, Andres said as he shot his brother a worried look.

During all his years at secondary, Sergio was constantly picked on by the all too well-known bully Alberto Vicuña along with his posse, Suarez, Prieto and Tamayo. He hadn’t even done anything to provoke them…but he guessed they just wanted to feel like they had big dicks.

Most of the time, they picked on him by shoving him into their lockers, calling him names, played mean pranks on him, you name it! But at least then, Andres could protect him. There was once when it almost got physical but Sergio was lucky. Andres and his friends Marseille, Bogota and Martin were coming to pick him up from school when they witnessed Sergio being cornered. They had an all-out fist fight with them. Hell, he remembered the look on Alberto’s face when Andres threatened to stab his balls.

This year, it was all different. Andres had graduated from university the year before and now, having to work, he would be way too caught up in his own pool of responsibilities. So this meant that Sergio had to fend for himself. “Hermanito, remember what I taught you alright? Put your hands up and once they throw the first punch, you either lean in to punch their stomach or chest area”

“You know how I feel about violence. I don-“, but Andres lifted up his finger to ask him to be quiet first.

“Or, the moment you get, you try to press their carotid sinuses, again like I taught you!”, he said pointing to a small area at his neck. Again, Sergio only nodded at his brother’s instructions and continued eating his breakfast.

Once they finished breakfast, he hopped into Andres’ old BMW car and off they went to Sergio’s school. Andres put on “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees. He sang along with the music and tried to get Sergio to join him but to no avail. It was only 5 minutes into the drive but Sergio thought about all the things that could go wrong. He suddenly felt short of breath, light-headed and his palms were beginning to sweat like mad.

“Joder, Andres. Stop the car”, Andres immediately stepped on the brake and gave him a look of concern.

“Que pasa?”

Without warning, Sergio got out of the car and vomited onto the pavement. “There, there Sergio. Just let it out…let it all out”, Andres said as he patted his brother’s back. Once Sergio was done expelling the contents of his stomach, he wiped his mouth and went back into the car. He closed his eyes tightly and lied back on the headrest.

“You know, you don’t have to go today”

“No, I want to. I can’t miss classes. Even if it’s the first day”

“Are you sure? We could go back home and you could just take one more day off”

“No, just…drive. Please”

This time, Andres didn’t put any music in and looked at his brother with concern. He was worried for him but he didn’t know what to do for him really. They finally reached his school and when Sergio finally opened his eyes, he winced as he looked out the window. As if just the view of the school shot him with nightmares.

“Hermanito, we’re here”

Finally, Sergio picked up his backpack and got out of the car. Not wishing his brother goodbye or anything.

“Geez, a goodbye would have been nice”

***

As he walked down the open hallways of the school, Sergio pulled his hoodie over his head and popped in his earphones. Wanting to get away from the crowd immediately, he rushed into the toilet to splash some cold water onto his face.

“It’s alright, Sergio. Everything will be fine. You’re just overthinking”, he said to himself. He looked at himself in the mirror and even though it was still the early morning, he looked a mess. His wavy black hair was everywhere and glasses were covered with finger smudges. What the fuck happened? He wondered. He quickly cleaned himself up and when he left the restroom, he felt someone jump on him.

“Joder!”, he screamed and fell onto the floor. Looking up, he was relieved when he saw that it was just his friend, Mirko. “

Ey, Professor! Como estas?”, Daniel shouted and laughed his signature laugh. Despite the terrible start of the day, he couldn’t help but smile a little. “Guys, he’s here!”, Daniel beckoned over the rest of their friends and they each gave Sergio a hug…which by the way, he was still incredibly uncomfortable with.

“How is our little Professor?”, Silene teased while ruffling his hair.

“How was the trip to San Sebastian?”, Agata asked.

“Did you bring souvenirs?”, Anibal chimed up while hugging him from the back.

“Oi, stop it!”, Sergio replied with a chuckle. “To answer all of you, yes, I’m good. Second, the trip was as usual fine. And third, sorry I didn’t bring souvenirs”, he got a groan of annoyance from Anibal as a reply but he knew he wasn’t mad. “Let’s head to our own classes. Vamos!”, and as they headed to their own classes, they chatted along the way. Sure, they met up every now and then but he hadn’t seen them for the last month of break since he went back to San Sebastian.

Sergio was never the most sociable person and in fact, he was incredibly shy. Looking back, he almost never met them. It was when Vicuña purposely toppled over his food tray when he met Silene and the gang. They had witnessed the whole event and Silene being the hot head she was, decided to stand up for him. Mirko, Agata and Daniel had quickly followed suit behind her and confronted Alberto’s posse for picking on him.

Ever since then, they had remained close. They would look out for him when Andres couldn’t.

Each of them had their own quirks. Silene was a petite girl but had the temper of a bull. Daniel was your local pretty boy and had gotten into several fights himself. But really, he was a sweetheart. Mirko was large in size and even though he looked as if he could take on an actual raging bull, he was really a big old teddy bear inside. Agata was calm-headed and basically a “wine-aunt”. Then there was Anibal, the youngest of the group. He had skipped 2 years of primary school and he joined them immediately when he got together with Silene.

“So, what are you gonna do about Vicuña this year, Prof?”, Agata suddenly asked.

“Hmm?”, he pretended to be not acknowledge what they had said.

“We know you heard us”, Anibal said with worry in his tone.

His shoulders slumped in sadness and he shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll try my best to avoid him? Or maybe this year I’ll actually defend myself”

“Don’t worry, Prof! If he does anything to you, I’ll sock him”, Daniel exclaimed while demonstrating how he threw a punch. This of course led to a heated discussion between him and Silene about how to throw a punch properly. The bell suddenly rang and they had to go their separate ways. “Don’t do anything stupid until break alright?”, Agata told him while patting his head. He smiled sincerely and headed his own way.

Once he entered his class, he fell his anxiety come back but he suddenly caught himself looking at a beautiful golden-brown haired girl seated at the back. Who was she? She must have felt him looking at her as she looked up from her book and caught his gaze. Instead of looking at him as if he were a creep, she smiled at him and just like that, he felt his first day jitters disappear.


	2. The Golden-Brown Haired Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sergio learns about the golden-brown haired girl's name and eventually her identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, this chapter has a little more Raquel in it! Hope you enjoy :D

It was during role call when Sergio learned the girl’s name.

Raquel Murillo.

Even her name was beautiful. He was very distracted during the entirety of the class. When he tried to listen to what the teacher was saying, he found his thoughts drifting to the girl.

By the end of the lesson, he realised he hadn’t listened to anything the teacher had said. But that was fine. He was a good student. He could learn it himself. Even if he were a week behind on lessons, he’d still do better than most of the students.

As everyone filed out of the class, Sergio decided to take his own sweet time to pack up and leave only when he saw Raquel. Soon enough, he saw her head out and he tagged behind her. Making sure he wasn’t too close to her. She stopped at her locker to get a jacket and he wanted to go over and say hi. Even though he was extremely shy, he had such a strong urge to get to know this girl…even if he embarrassed himself during the process.

He walked closer to her but she suddenly snapped her head up and he quickly avoided her gaze by looking down on the ground. Quickening his pace, he continued walking forwards past her and headed over her to his own locker which was fortunately (or unfortunately) a few lockers away from his.

“Joder”, he muttered under his breath.

As he pretended to look busy while rummaging through his bag, he couldn’t help but steal glances at her. She wore a loose dark green top, along with a slim-fitting pair of black jeans and a pair of boots. On her nose, she had a stud piercing which honestly, intimidated him a little.

She was now with who he assumed was 2 of her friends, a red-headed girl who was sucking on a lollipop and a large sized dude with dark hair and heavy rimmed glasses…much like his own. There was absolutely no way he was going to approach her now.

***

During his free period, he decided to head down to the school library to apply for library assistant. Prior to this, he would visit the school’s library quite often, even when he wasn’t attending it yet. The librarian who went by the name of Torres had grown fond of the boy and they often had long conversations about what they had read before. He was told that students were allowed to help out in the library in exchange for a few bucks an hour.

Of course, being the bookworm that he was, Sergio would have volunteered to help out anyways. But the money wasn’t too bad either.

While roaming the library, he decided to check out the literature books, wondering if he should check out some books…until he heard a voice call his name.

“Hey, Sergio…right?”

He looked around to see who had called his name and saw that it was the beautiful Murillo girl. “Um…yea…”, he said while looking down at the floor. Unsure of how to continue on the conversation, he introduced himself to her. “I’m Sergio Marquina by the way…”, and he extended his hand out to her and mentally slapped himself for his own stupidity. She knows your name, you dumbass!

“Yea, I know. Same Philosophy class…I’m Raquel”, she said with a chuckle and shook his hand anyways.

The moment her hand touched his, a tingle of warmth shot through his body. Making him adjust his glasses uncomfortably with his hand. Raquel noted this in her head and assumed it was some sort of nervous tick of his. She was suddenly aware that she made him feel uncomfortable and drew her hand away.

“So, what are you? Arts? Social Science? Humanities? Or science?”, she suddenly asked as an attempt to break some ice between them.

“Um…”

“Sergio…”, she called him with a hint of compassion in her tone. “I don’t bite”

He let out a small chuckle in response and felt himself go red. Suddenly realising she was just trying to break some ice between them.

“Social science”, he replied with some embarrassment in his voice.

“Really?! Same!”, she said with a smile, which in Sergio’s eyes, brightened up the whole room. “What have you got there?”, he suddenly asked as he noticed a book in her hand. “Oh, just one of the old classics. Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges”

“Ahh…algo de sacerdote había en él y también de marino”, he chimed up. One of the more interesting quotes in the book as he could somehow relate himself to it.

“So you’ve read it?”

“I…I have. It’s a good read. You won’t be disappointed”

“I guess I’ll have to take your word for it”, with that, she took off making him long for her even more.

***

“Then I removed my badge, flipped him the bird and stormed out of the store”, Agata explained with dramatic hand movements.

“And you wonder why you can’t hold down jobs”, Mirko teased.

Once the rest of the gang had their free periods, they all decided to head out to Hanoi, a nearby café which Daniel’s father, Agustín owned. They were seated at one of the window-side booths, with Anibal, Silene and Daniel on one side, then with Sergio, Agata and Mirko on the other. Again, Sergio found himself distracted with thoughts of Raquel. Ever since their interaction in the library, he was constantly distracted with thoughts of her.

Not only was she beautiful. But she read too! One of the qualities which he often found attractive in anyone.

“Earth to Sergio!”, Silene snapped her fingers at him and he looked up startled. “Que?”, he asked. “We were talking about how our first classes went. And now…it’s your turn you silly ass”, Silene again flicked her finger against his forehead and he threw her an annoyed look. “What’s on your mind?”

“I just…”

“Marquina!”, a voice suddenly called out. Sergio suddenly felt every muscle in his body tense up as he could recognise that voice from miles away. Loud, menacing, and arrogant. It was just not a voice he wanted to hear right now.

He slowly turned around to see Alberto and his posse enter the café. Great. Just what he needed. As they walked past him, Alberto grabbed a nearby chair and sat beside Sergio, getting all up in his personal space. “So, you miss me little Professori?”, he taunted with menace in his voice. Even though he liked the little nickname, he hated it when Alberto used it as he knew Alberto wanted to only get under his skin.

“Fuck off, Vicuña”, Silene hissed at him, almost getting up but Anibal quickly held her down, reminding her that Sergio wanted to fight his own battles.

“What, little girl afraid to stand up against us already?”, this time, it was Suarez who taunted her. Well, it was for good reason too. The last time he messed with Sergio, Silene had given him a good ass whooping and let’s just say that the end result wasn’t pretty.

“What do you want, Vicuña?”, Sergio asked with intention of just wanting him to leave them alone. “Hey, why so hostile? I just came over to say hi to you and your…”, his eyes scanned over Sergio’s group of friends. “…your sad excuse for a group of friends”. Daniel’s fist clenched but Agata quickly shook his head at him, indicating to him to stand down.

Then he got up and “accidentally” spilled a cup of lemonade over Sergio’s pants. Jesus fucking Christ! How juvenile was he? But of course, Sergio before thinking, stuck his foot out and tripped Alberto as he walked away. It was only seconds later when he realised what he did was incredibly stupid.

Alberto quickly got up and grabbed Sergio’s collar, drawing back a fist to punch him. Daniel and the rest quickly got up, but Alberto’s posse made sure they stayed put. “Don’t forget, Marquina! Your brother isn’t here to protect you anymore. So that means you don’t have any protection”, Sergio then closed his eyes to brace himself for the impact, until…

“Alberto, what are you doing?”, a familiar voice called out. No, it couldn’t be.

“I was only…”

“Save it. Stop bothering the poor guy. Let’s quickly grab a bite alright?”, Sergio finally opened his eyes and looked back to see her. Again. Raquel. She gave him a sympathetic look as to apologise for Alberto’s actions. But why?

Only a few seconds later he understood. As they walked to their own table, Sergio saw them kiss each other and a deep realisation hit him……the golden-brown haired girl was Alberto’s Vicuña's girlfriend!


	3. First Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sergio has been made a student tutor and he has 3 tutees: Alicia Sierra, Monica Gaztambide and Raquel Murillo!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little slow burn, I hope you don't mind!

For the first 2 weeks of college, life was somewhat…great? Sergio had a routine which he desperately needed. Andres would drop him off at college on his way to work, he would help out at the library 3 times a week, his classes were running rather smoothly, he joined chess club, and the best thing was…Vicuña wasn’t bothering him that much! Sure, he’d be jeered at by them but the Murillo girl would always step in to stop them from taking it too far, and he was grateful for that. 

Ever since the encounter in the café however, Sergio hadn’t made any attempt to converse with Raquel again. He even noticed that they had the same classes for all of their core subjects. They would occasionally greet each other or smile at each other’s directions. But that was it. Even though deep down, he wanted to get to know her. He knew he couldn’t.

“Marquina, stay back for awhile”, his lecturer Dr Antoñanzas suddenly called. Startled, Sergio took a moment to clarify what he had said in his head and nodded in reply. Worried that he might be in some sort of trouble though, Sergio shuffled his feet to the front of the class and waited for Antoñanzas to send his email.

“Am I in trouble, sir?”, Sergio asked with worry.

“What? No, no…far from that. I was just wondering if you would be fine with being a student tutor”, oh that was it?

“Yea, sure. That’s fine…would I get volunteer hours out of it?”

“Of course you would…great! Great! So you’ll get an email by the end of the week with your assigned tutees, alright?”

Sure enough, by the end of the week he received an email with his assigned tutees. Literature with Alicia Sierra, Philosophy with Monica Gaztambide and…oh no.

No, no, NO!

Economics with Raquel Murillo.

“Joder!”

***

“Vicuña’s girl is your tutee?!”, Agata exclaimed in shock, which turned some heads in the café.

“You know, I bet she actually gets off when Vicuña picks on others. She could be a bitch”, Silene said with an eye roll. 

“Silene! That’s mean!”, after he received his email, he quickly texted the group. Asking if anyone wanted to grab a bite. But really, he felt like he was hyperventilating and he needed to tell someone about it. Luckily for him, Daniel, Agata and Silene were free and maybe what he needed was his friends’ advice now. “Who are the rest of your tutees?”

“Umm…an Alicia Sierra and Monica Gaztambide”

“Ooh, all girls. Didn’t know you were such a chick magnet, Prof”, Daniel teased and laughed, which quickly followed suit with Silene’s mocking of his laughter. “Check them out on Instagram. I want to see how they look like”, Sergio immediately tried to protest but of course he was curious as to know who Alicia and Monica were.

After several minutes of “research”, Agata had finally pulled out Alicia’s profile and her eyes went huge with shock. “Holy, she’s fine as hell!”, she said shoving the phone into Sergio’s face. “I’m looking!”, oh! She was the redhead who was with Raquel the other day!

Beside Sergio was Daniel who also managed to pull out Monica’s profile. Similarly to Alicia, he had the same reaction. “Holy, Prof! I wish I were the one tutoring her!”, and he looked at the picture which Daniel was ogling at. She was nice looking…she was rather tall, had curly blonde hair, an incredibly defined butt chin and really deep dimples when she smiled.

“So, what are you going to do about Murillo? Are you going to purposely fuck up her grades to get your revenge on that asshat of a boyfriend she has?”, Silene had the most devilish look on her face and Sergio felt insulted that she assumed he would stoop that low.

“No! Of course not! She’s actually really nice”, he defended.

“Yea, sure! Cause nice girls are always with pricks like Vicuña”

“For all you know, maybe she picked on others like him”, Agata suddenly chimed in.

“She’s right Prof! She could be a bitch”, this time it was Daniel who voiced up.

Sergio wanted to tell them to shut up. Tell them that they didn’t know anything about her. Tell them that she was indeed really a nice person. Tell them that she made sure Vicuña didn’t pull anything on him. “No, you have her all wrong. She has a good heart and is a nice person. You shouldn’t assume someone’s personality based on people they’re dating. So just stop it!”, his voice was slightly raised when he reprimanded them for being such asses. Realising they had upset him, they quickly changed the topic.

Silene narrowed her eyes at him, sensing that he was hiding something but decided not to push him. “Alright, Marquina…whatever you say. But if she does anything to you, I’ll make sure she finds it hard to walk for several days…and not in the good way”

***

It was on Tuesday when Sergio first met Alicia.

From afar she seemed…pleasant enough? But God, was he wrong.

Up close, she oozed an aura of intimidation and coldness. Much like Vicuña but not to such an extent. She had a gaze that basically said “don’t fuck with me”

“You won’t try to get in my pants, will you?”, that was the first thing she had said to him. He was incredibly taken aback by her assumption of him that he turned red. Looking at his reaction, she started to laugh and Sergio realised he was being fucked with. He let out a nervous laugh and he quickly got down to business.

During their whole first session, she was sucking on her lollipop which really annoyed him a little. But he figured it was just a nervous tick of hers so he just let it go.

When Sergio was in the middle of explaining the difference in writing techniques, he suddenly felt a pat on his back. He turned around expecting it to be Vicuña but instead it was…

“Ola, Prof!”, Agata greeted with a huge grin plastered on her face. “Um, Agata! What are you-”, but he was instantly interrupted by Agata introducing herself to Alicia.

“Agata Jimenez, como estas?”

“Alicia Sierra”, they shook hands and Sergio could swear that he saw a glint of mischief in Agata’s eyes. He suddenly understood why she was there and rolled her eyes at how immature she being right now. “Agata, we’re in the mid-”

“Quiet, Marquina!”, Alicia held up a finger at him to shush him and paid all her attention to Agata. “So, what’s a beautiful girl like you doing in a library at 6 in the evening?”, Agata flirted.

“Oh, nothing! Just trying to figure out some assignments”, Alicia replied while battering her eyes. He couldn’t believe that she was actually flirting back. Again, he tried to get their attention but to no avail. So he decided to leave them alone.

***

Wednesdays were with Monica. As Sergio sat at one of the long tables of the library, hoping that she wasn’t anything like Alicia, he was suddenly approached by the blonde girl.

“Sergio Marquina?”

“Si, Monica Gaztambide?”, she extended her hand and he took it awkwardly, honestly intimidated by her good looks. “I brought you a coffee and croissant by the way. You must have so much going on and I’m really sorry about all the trouble”, she apologised sincerely. “Oh, um…thank you!”, he took it and realised he hadn’t lunch yet.

Again, he got right down to business, helping her recap the week’s contents.

It was only 10 minutes in when he felt someone ruffle his hair. He only knew 3 people who did that. Andres, Silene and…

“Ey, Professor!”, then he heard that laugh. “Ola, Daniel. What do you want?”, he asked behind clenched teeth. He knew perfectly well why he was here. With God as his witness, he swore he would give Agata and Daniel a scolding of his life.

“And who is this pretty lady? I’m Daniel”, and somehow. Somehow! Just like that! He had gotten the attention of Monica. “I swear I’m surrounded by animals”, Sergio muttered under his breath and left the both of them to it.

***

Finally, he had Fridays with Raquel. The day he dreaded yet looked forward to the most. This time, instead of meeting at the library, they were going to meet at Hanoi. Since it was a Friday, he understood why she wanted to meet somewhere less formal.

He ordered a coke and nervously waited for her to arrive. Feeling butterflies in his stomach, he decided to wash his face to calm down. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, he realised he was just being silly. Just treat her like the prior tutees, he thought to himself.

The moment he left the restroom however, he saw that she was already there! He quickly turned away and pressed his back against the separating panel. He was kidding himself. There was no way he could keep his cool in front of her. He’d blubber like an idiot. He’d…well do something stupid! He would…

“Sergio?”, he turned to face her and his nervousness shot up through the roof.

“Raquel. Hi!”, he said, his voice breaking a little. She let out a little smile of amusement but quickly wiped it off her face, afraid that he would feel self-conscious. 

They stood facing each other awkwardly until Raquel had to break the silence. “So, should we…”

“Oh, yes! Of course”, they took a seat at the table he got and...wow! The atmosphere between them was heavy with awkwardness that you could slice it with a blunt knife. His brain told him to get down to business but his body wasn’t responding to the signals his brain was sending.

“Ok, before we start…I want to apologise”, Raquel said. “Apologise? What for?”, his brows were furrowed with confusion.

“For Alberto. I’m really sorry he’s such a prick to you”, he chuckled when she called him that and even she couldn’t help but smile. “You don’t have to apologise for him. It’s not your fault he’s like that”, he responded sincerely. “But really though, I’m sorry…”, his hand suddenly felt warm and when he looked down, he realised she had placed her hand on his. His face went red with embarrassment and he tried to hide his reaction from her.

Raquel however noticed his reaction and decided to tease him a little, “What? Never had a girl touch your hand before?”, he turned even redder than before and she thought he looked like a cherry tomato. He gulped nervously and she instantly felt sorry for teasing him. Saving the poor guy from further embarrassment, she quickly withdrew her hand from his, which left a sense of emptiness on Sergio’s own hand. “I’m…sorry. I couldn’t help it. Forgive me?”

“Y-Yes, of course”, he stuttered.

They ordered some food and unlike his other sessions, it was her who started the discussion. Half of the time, he had to ask her to repeat her questions as he was so distracted. 

Raquel on the other hand, noticed his head was somewhere in the clouds and decided to call it a day.

“Hey, I don’t think today’s great. Maybe I should just head home”

It had taken a few seconds for Sergio to realise what she had said and he shook himself back to reality. “What? No, no…we’ve barely gone through this week’s materials”, he said, worried that she was annoyed with him. “It’s fine, Sergio. Maybe Fridays aren’t just a good day for this anyways. I mean, it’s a Friday!”, Raquel reassured him.

“Actually…”, he muttered sheepishly.

“Yes?”

“I don’t have anything to do on Fridays anyway. This was my only plan for today”, he looked down on the floor as he said this since he was ashamed of basically admitting he was a loser.

Raquel gave him an amused look, wondering if he were pulling her leg…but noticed his solemn look and realised he was serious. Aww, the poor guy. “Nonsense, I’m sure anyone would want to hang with you. How about your friends?”, she asked up empathetically.

“Nah. We hang out. But they have their own friends”

She noticed he looked rather embarrassed and in her head, she realised he looked absolutely adorable. “Well, if I were them, I would definitely spend time with you. Unfortunately, I really do have to go”, she said and kissed his cheek. Sergio’s face instantly flushed red and before he could comprehend what just happened, she had walked out of the café. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any suggestions, please leave it down in the comments! Would love to hear your suggestions


	4. Personal Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raquel wants to break the ice with Sergio...but will it end in a disaster? Or will it be a happy ending?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SOOOOOOO sorry for not updating! It's been a few lazy weeks and I've just been procrastinating on updating. And sometimes when I did get to it, I would just have the massive case of writer"s block :( I hope this makes up for it!

“How have your classes been?”, Andres asked during the morning drive.

It was still too early in the morning and even though Sergio identified himself as a morning lover, he hated how his brother was constantly bombarding him with questions.

At first it was sweet. He’d ask if Vicuña was still bullying him, or if classes were going well. But after a while, the questions would become repetitive and it would drain him mentally. Don’t get him wrong, he loved his brother but he had a very small social battery.

“It’s fine…oh I’ve been giving tutoring sessions lately. I don’t think I told you that”, Sergio replied. For the past 2 weeks, he had mainly spent more time tutoring Raquel. Alicia and Monica, well they would need his assistance but 10 minutes into it, either Agata or Daniel would have butted in.

“Ooh, what’s that like? Any cute tutees?”, Andres teased. He turned to look at Sergio and caught him blushing. “Oh dios mio! Tell me about her!”, he was excited over this revelation. His brother, finding someone cute. Andres never thought this day would come.

“No, there isn’t anybody cute”

“Are you sure? Cause by the way you face is going red, I would say that there is!”, Andres pointed out. Sergio’s face only went wide with shock and he quickly turned away from his brother. “Haha, alright. I won’t push you but let me remind you this”

“What?”

“If you get the chance, try and hook up with her”, Andres said with a wink.

“Joder, Andres! No!”, with that, he quickly got out of the car and into the school. How could his brother even think of that?!

**

After 2 weeks of having sessions with Sergio, Raquel realised she didn’t know the guy quite well. All she knew about him was that he was shy and quiet, he had read Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges, he was one of Alberto’s many victims and that he got uncomfortable easily.

Something about him made her want to get to know him more. She wasn’t sure what it was but he seemed intriguing in a different sort of way.

They were sat across each other in the library. He was nose deep in a book he was reading and she was struggling with the economics assessment. “Hey”, she called out. Sergio, who was completely immersed in the book he was reading didn’t even hear her.

Raquel, annoyed by how oblivious he was, crumpled up a little piece of paper and tossed it at his head.

When it hit him on the head, Sergio expected to look up and see Vicuña but was relieved when he saw that it was just Raquel. “Did you toss this at me?”

“No, the prime minister did”, she joked but his expression remained the same. Oblivious!

“Did you want me to help you with something?”

“Well, sort of. I just realised moments ago that we don’t really know anything about each other”, she said, hoping that maybe he would catch on. But Sergio being Sergio, had no idea what she was implying.

“Then maybe we should keep it that way. Emotions tend to mess things up anyways”, he replied very nonchalantly. The audacity! Raquel thought. Even though it seemed mean, Sergio didn’t mean it in that sort of sense. He knew that if he got to know her more, he’d be prone to falling harder for her. And with Vicuña as her boyfriend, he knew that if he fell harder her, he would be in astronomically deep shit.

Raquel sensed that maybe he didn’t care so she went back to trying to focus on her work. Sergio tried to get back to his book but realised he had hurt her feelings. He sighed and put his book down, waving at her for her attention. “I’m sorry, Raquel…I didn’t mean it that way. It’s just…”

“It’s just what? You’re a closed off asshole?”, she hissed at him, instantly regretting what had come out of her mouth.

A silence surrounded them and this time it was her turn to sigh, realising she couldn’t focus on her work anymore. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that about you”, she said remorsefully.

“You know you’re actually right, right?”

“Que?”

“That I’m closed off, and an asshole”, he said while running his hand through his hair nervously. Without thinking, Raquel placed her hand on his other hand and lightly stroked it. “Even if you are, it’s not right for me to judge so quickly”, he looked into her hazel brown eyes and saw that she was being genuine. His gaze suddenly fell onto her lips and he swore he saw her licking them. Realising that he wanted to move closer to her he quickly snapped himself out of it.

“You know what? I think you’ve done enough for today. Let’s call it a day?”

“Oh, yeah…right”, she said with a hint of disappointment.

Feeling guilty that he had put her down, he decided to do something he never thought he would have the guts to do. “Do you want to have lunch with me?”

Her eyes instantly shone at his invitation. “Are you sure about that? I don’t want to invade your personal space”, she asked. Making sure he was absolutely sure that he didn’t mind the presence of his tormentor’s girlfriend. “Yes I’m sure. Besides, it gets a little lonely when I eat by myself”, his face flushed with embarrassment and all Raquel wanted to do was pat his head.

“Then let’s go! Hanoi?”

“You read my mind” Their walk from the campus to the café was less awkward than Sergio expected it to be. They had made some small talk over their classes and some of their friends.

“So who would you say is your closest friend?”

“Hmm, I guess that award would go to Silene. If you noticed that day in the café, she was the short haired girl sat in front of me”

“Ahh…she doesn’t like me very much right?”, she remembered that day quite clearly. When she stopped Alberto from hitting Sergio, she had gotten quite a dirty look from that girl.

“Um…”, Sergio wondered whether or not he should tell her the truth but quickly remembered that there was no point in lying. “Don’t take it personally. She hates Vicuña’s guts…so naturally she hates anyone related to him in any way”, he expected her to be upset but was pleasantly surprised when she let out a small chuckle.

“Well, to be fair, if I were her, I’d feel the same way too”, Raquel knew deep down that if one of her friends were getting bullied, she’d react the same way as Silene…expecting the worst from them.

At the café, once they had ordered their food however, an uncomfortable silence hung over them as they sat across each other. Sergio was fidgeting with his phone as he tried to get used to her presence while Raquel on the other hand shook her leg as she pondered upon what to talk about…until an idea struck her.

“Ok, this is going to be pathetic but hold up with me…”, pulling out her phone she searched something up and Sergio craned his neck to see what she was doing. “Really? A random question generator?”, he gave her an are-you-serious look.

“Come on! It could be fun”, she nudged his leg and he sighed. She was true though. It could be fun.

“Alright, alright…what’s the first question?”

“Are you a dog or a cat person?”

“Cat”, just one word. “Sergio you can’t just give me a one worded answer”, she said annoyed. He was going to be the death of her.

“I answered the question, didn’t I?”

“Yea you did but…come on”, she pouted her lips at him and again he realised he was right. He was being an ass if he only gave her one worded answers. “Alright, alright…I’m a cat person because they’re low maintenance. Dogs are just so needy and they constantly need your attention”, he grimaced at the thought of having to accompany dog constantly.

Raquel chuckled at his response and spoke up. “Alright, that is true but dogs are very loyal and they’re always there for you”, he scrunched up his face at her response and replied, “You’re a dog person”

“Wow, what gave it away”, she said sarcastically and he let out a small laugh.

“Alright, next question”

For the next hour or so, they had gone through some ridiculous questions. Like what should the first colony on another planet be called. Or whether they had any regrets in life. The strangest question they got was “what’s the opposite of a koala”. Sergio had wrecked his head around it and Raquel laughed at how cute he was for trying to figure it out without the help of the internet.

“The top item of your bucket list is to rob the Royal Mint of Spain?”, she asked dumbfounded.

“Yea!”, he said very nonchalantly.

“Hey, hey! You can’t just say that and not tell me why. That’s stupidly specific”

“Alright, think about it. You’re basically taking a money printer and making your own money. So the longer you have it, the more money you have. And if you think about it, we won’t exactly be stealing any money, we’d only be taking the police’s time. AND the last I checked, no one was ever sent to prison for stealing someone’s time”, he explained. Raquel laughed at his crazy plan but waved it away. “Alright, alright. I guess that beats my dream of finding Atlantis. Okay, next question…how often do you masturbate”

Sergio’s body tensed at the question. This was such a personal question that he didn’t know if he was ready to tell Raquel this. “Um…I don’t think I’m comfortable with answering that question”, Raquel’s brow furrowed at his hesitation but then she remembered that he was fairly shy and the fact that their lunch was going the way it was now was actually phenomenal.

Looking down at her watch, Raquel realised that they had literature class in half an hour. “You know what, maybe we should go”, he too looked down at his watch and his eyes widened when he realised what time it was. “Dios mio! Yes, we should get going”, he exclaimed and called for the bill.

When the bill came, he contemplated whether or not he should pay for her meal. Sure, she was an independent woman but wasn’t it the gentleman thing to do? Without much more thinking, he decided to pay for her anyways. “How much was the bill?”, she asked.

“It’s fine. On me”, he said and was only replied with an annoyed look. “No, it’s not on you. Sergio, how much do I owe you?”

“You owe me nothing. Just keep your stupid asshat of a boyfriend away from me”, she pushed his shoulder playfully in response to his mean comment. “Come on…15 right?”

“Just let me treat you?”

Realising she wasn’t going to get anywhere with him, she finally gave up. “Fine…but next time, it’s on me”, Sergio’s head snapped up. There was going to be a next time? He silently cheered and just nodded in response. “Deal. What a negotiator”

During their walk back, Sergio suddenly realised he wanted to ask her something. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Yea, sure”

“Why are you with Vicuña?”

During all their interactions, Raquel had always been comfortable but the moment he brought up the question, she tensed. Noting the shift in her body language, Sergio realised that maybe he shouldn’t have brought it up. “You don’t have to answer me I’m sorry”, he spat out. “No, Sergio it’s fine. It’s just…not many people know this but he’s a sweetheart”

He gave her a sceptical look and she continued on. “There are times when he asks me not to wear any revealing clothes which is sweet, he only wants to keep prying eyes away from my body. And then there are other times when he asks me to change my profile picture to the both of us which is also sweet”, she told him. Sergio wasn’t the best at reading people but something told him that she was hiding something.

“Really?”, and then she broke.

They had just stepped foot into the campus and she turned around to jab a finger into his chest. “Look, you don’t know him like I do, alright? So can you please stop prodding?!”, she scolded. Sergio backed off instantly, surprised by her ferocity and any man in their right mind would know to shut up. But again, Sergio wasn’t the best at reading social cues. “Well, forgive me but he’s been bullying me since secondary school so I think it’s reasonable for me to not see him as such a saint”

Raquel couldn’t believe her ears. She understood why he didn’t like Alberto but this was also her boyfriend he was talking about! At least respect the fact that she had her own opinion of him. “I get that you don’t like him…but at least respect the fact that I have my own opinion of him”, without letting him reply, she walked off to class, which left Sergio feeling guilty.

**

That night, Sergio found it rather hard to fall asleep. He tossed and turned in bed as he attempted to sleep. He tried counting sheep, drinking a warm glass of milk…even taking a warm shower. When Raquel snapped at him this afternoon, he couldn’t see what he did wrong. It may have taken him a while but he finally understood her point of view.

Here he was, judging the choice she had made about getting together with his tormentor when really, he didn’t know all her reasons. He didn’t like Vicuña much but that didn’t give him the right to judge her so heavily.

Without thinking, he whipped out his phone and opened his messages with Raquel, which mostly consisted of them scheduling their tutoring sessions.

_“Good evening, Raquel. I’m sorry about this afternoon”_

On the other side of town, Raquel was preparing to go to sleep when she received a text notification. Expecting it to be Alberto, she picked up her phone but her smile vanished. Ugh, Sergio! Instead of grumbling in annoyance though, she smiled at how formal his text was. She wanted to be mad with him but it was the little things like that that made her smile.

_“as much as i want to b mad with u, ur “good evening” is ridiculously adorable”_

_“and yes u should b sorry”_

Sergio blushed at the text where she said he was “ridiculously adorable” and instantly replied her.

_“Well, I hope you can forgive me, senorita”_

_“i will if u let me pay u bck :)”_

_“Then I guess I’ll have to live with you hating me”_

_“Can I say something by the way?”_

_“que?”_

_“I hate that you don’t use proper words when you text”_

Instead of getting angry over this, she instead laughed over how adorable he was being. Here he was trying to apologise to her…and now he’s judging her texting behaviour!

_“u know i wanna b angry but i cant”_

_“ok grammar nazi im sorry but I cant help it :)”_

_“Sure you can’t”_

Then their conversation snowballed into a much longer conversation about their day. Usually Sergio would have put his phone down by now, as it was already 11 at night but he was losing track of time as he talked to her.

_“hey its alr 11 i need to head 2 bed c u tmr :)”_

_“Oh, yes! Time for bed!”_

_“Goodnight”_

_“gudnite”_

And it was just what he needed. To get rid of that small baggage so he could finally sleep in peace.


	5. Party Crasher Pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Silene's first college party of the year and both Alicia and Monica desperately want Raquel to go. But with Silene's place being enemy territory, will Raquel be gunned down by Silene and the gang? Or will it be a smooth sailing ride?

“I don’t understand why I have to go tomorrow”, Sergio whined.

“Come on, Prof! You have to! It’s my party! And as my close friend, it’s compulsory for you to attend!”, Silene retaliated, fists on her hips, her face seething with annoyance.

See, Silene wanted to throw a party for purpose of gaining street cred. To Sergio, parties were an absolute waste of time. If he had to choose between hanging out with Vicuña and going to a party. He’d actually go with Vicuña. Thinking back, there were times when Andres would throw parties at their house and Sergio had to run away to Daniel’s for a night.

“Please come!”, this time, Agata was asking.

“Yea, Prof! You have to!”, Mirko joined. They started to beg him to come and he finally gave in.

“Fine! But on one condition!”

“What?”

“Don’t even think about making me drink. I’m staying away from that poison”, they gave him a look of annoyance but they knew they weren’t going to win this battle. “Deal”

***

Friday night had finally come. As much as he wanted to bail on the gang, he couldn’t do that to them. They were his close friends and they wanted him to join their first college party. He put on a blue button-down shirt paired with dark grey jeans. Since it was a rather chilly night, he pulled a dark sweater over his shirt. As he headed out, his father suddenly stopped him. “Carino, where are you going? It’s almost 9”, Jesus asked amused. It wasn’t exactly like his son to be going out this late. For a typical teenager sure, it was rather normal. But he knew his son wasn’t like most teenagers.

“I’m uh…going out to a party”, Sergio suddenly realised that maybe his dad could help bail him out of this situation. Maybe his dad would send him back to his room and lecture him about underage drinking. “Oh, that’s great! Stay safe, alright?”

What? That was it? And then he remembered that his father was one of those laidback parents. Most kids his age would love that, but again, Sergio wasn’t like most kids.

“Buenas noches, familia!”, the door slammed open and sure enough, it was Andres. As he walked into the living room, he noticed how his younger brother was dressed up and looked as if he was about to leave. “Where are you going, hermanito?”

“Our little Sergio is going to a party”, his father answered for him. Andres turned to face Sergio and he had the most ecstatic look on his face. “My younger brother! Going to a party! And I thought I would never see this day come!”, his voice was filled with pride as he said that and he gave his brother a hug. “Come, Sergio! It’s time I give you the party talk”

God, no. This was the last thing he needed.

“Hermanito, in parties…things usually get wild. There’s alcohol, women, dancing…WOMEN!”, he said again emphasising on women.

This was going to be so uncomfortable.

*

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Raquel Murillo was on the phone with her boyfriend.

“Yes, Alberto……I’ll be ready by midnight……yes, we can get popcorn……no, please don’t wear that stupid shirt of yours”, she said chuckling. Then she heard a sudden banging against her door. What the hell? “Alberto, hold on…I think it’s my mom”, she hung up and when she opened the door, in strode Alicia, Monica and Angel. Why did her mother open the door for all her friends? “Why aren’t you dressed?”, Alicia barked at her.

“Yes, hurry up, girl! Let’s head over there now!”

“I just want to network around. There’s this girl in my foreign language class, Mari Carmen going. And I want to try and get to know her better”

“All of you, shut up!! What are you talking about?”, Raquel screamed at them. They all instantly shut up realising that she had completely forgotten about it. “We’re heading to Silene’s party and you, my dear…are coming with us”, Alicia said nonchalantly.

“Silene? You mean Sergio’s friend?”, both Monica and Alicia’s eyebrows wiggled at the mention of his name which sent a worry down Raquel’s spine. “Yes, Sergio’s friend”, Monica repeated, emphasizing on Sergio’s name. “Ok, get out Angel. Raquel needs to change!”, he shrugged and left the room and almost immediately while her cupboard was being raided by her friends.

“Guys, I can’t go. I have a date with Alberto tonight!”

“Screw that idiot! You’re coming with us!”, Alicia protested. 

“What, no th-”, Raquel tried to protest again but Monica threw a black pencil skirt at her. “Try this on!”, she said all riled up. “Guys, I’m not going! That’s final!”

Both their faces immediately fell when she told them and Raquel couldn’t help but feel bad. “Come on…you haven’t hung out with us for awhile. You’ve been with Alberto 90% of the time and as your friends, we really miss hanging out”, Raquel suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She realised that they were right. Ever since they started college, she had been spending more and more time with Alberto and she had hardly seen her friends. “Please?”, Monica asked with her puppy dog eyes. God, she couldn’t say no to that!

Then she realised one major issue. “Wait I wasn’t invited…and I don’t think Silene would appreciate party crashers. Especially if it were me. She doesn’t seem to like me”, she said with realisation.

"It’s fine! It’s an open invite!”, Alicia reassured her. “So you in?”

She looked at Monica, and then to Alicia…and then thought of Sergio. If he were there, maybe it would be bearable. “Alright. But I’ll leave by midnight. I still have my date with Alberto”

Alicia rolled her eyes at the mention of him which led to Monica shoving her ribs. “Ow, Mon! Ok, fine! But that doesn’t mean I approve of him, I have abso-fucking-lutely have no idea about what you see in him! He still gives me the heebie jeebies”, again greeted by a shove from Monica. “OW!”, Raquel only chuckled at their little banter and asked them to get out for her to change.

“Wear something sexy!”, and they left to wait for her in the living room.

Looking into her closet, she realised she had to go shopping. After much contemplation, she decided on a denim mini skirt paired with a loose white top.

As she stepped out of her room, she texted Alberto to pick her up at Silene’s. It was already 9.30, so she had about 2 and a half hours to party with her friends.

This was definitely going to be fun.

*

After a long pep talk from Andres about parties, drinking and the pleasure of women. Sergio suddenly found himself looking forward to the party…since it would mean getting away from his brother. “Do you want me to drop you off at Silene’s place?”

“No, please. I can walk myself”

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with your older, working brother?”, Andres said hurt. “Wha-What…no, of cou-”, but suddenly Andres broke out into a smile. “I’m just kidding, hermanito. Call me if you need a ride back alright?”

During his walk there, Sergio found himself thinking about Raquel again. It had been a week since their “get to know each other more” session. Even though he had apologised to Raquel, he still wished he could take back what he said about Vicuña to her. Sure he didn’t like her boyfriend but that didn’t mean he should have judged her for her decisions. He still felt terrible for treating her so badly.

By the time he arrived at Silene’s, the gang was already drinking. “Professor!”, Daniel screamed as Sergio walked in. “You actually came! You didn’t bail on me the last minute”, Silene gave him a tight hug and he instantly felt a wave of guilt overcome him. “I’m sure you considered it but thanks for not bailing. Besides, we’re going to need you to take care of our drunk asses”, she winked at him mischievously and sighed. Tonight was going to be a long night.

*

Once Raquel and her friends arrived at the party, it was already in full swing. There were a load of beer kegs. The house was dark and lit with neon lights. There was a DJ in her larger living room putting out a sick beat. And the people who were dancing which was really a lack of a better term for “grinding against each other” were probably already drunk off her asses.

“Alicia!”

“Monica!”, which was then followed by a strange laugh.

Raquel swung her head to see who had greeted her friends. She had seen them before with Sergio in Hanoi but this was the first time she had seen them up close. One was a girl with thick eyebrows and dark hair which swept upwards. The other was a boy. He had short curly hair with teal coloured eyes. “You made it!”, the girl said.

“Of course! Agata, this is my oh-so gorgeous friend Raquel. Raquel, Agata”, Alicia introduced them. Wow, it wasn’t like Alicia to be so nice.

“And Raquel, this is Daniel”, Monica chimed in. Raquel suddenly noticed that Daniel had his arm around her waist. Was something going on between them?

“Yes, we’ve met”, Raquel tried to find any tone of annoyance in their voices but was surprised that both of them sounded sincere.

“It’s nice to put names to faces”, they all gave each other a friendly hug and they moved to the kitchen. “Meet the rest of the gang, guys”.

In the kitchen, surrounding the island were the rest of Sergio’s friends. There was a large looking guy with a shaved head and he looked like he could wrestle a mountain bear with his own hands. Beside him was another younger guy with short curly hair and deep hazel eyes. Then there was of course Silene who she had met a few days before. Raquel expected to see Sergio wasn’t there but he wasn’t. Did he not come for his own friend’s party?

When the introductions went about, Raquel expected Silene to be cold towards her but she was surprised when she was anything but. Silene had in fact offered her drinks and actually made conversation with her. As the party went on, Raquel found herself enjoying the company of this group of friends.

“Hey”, she felt a tap on the shoulder and saw that it was Sergio.

“Sergio! I didn’t think this was your kind of scene!”, she teased and gave him a hug. His body tensed at the contact and even though he wanted to hug her back, he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“Well, I was really forced to come”, he said with an awkward grin.

“I actually was too! I guess we do have something in common!”, she teased with a light punch to his shoulder. She was so cute…stop it, Sergio!

So there they were in the kitchen having their own little conversation as the others were bonding with each other.

“Aren’t you going to have a drink?”, she gestured to the Silene’s mountain of alcohol spread across the kitchen island. Across from them, Agata had overheard their small little exchange and butted in. “Don’t bother, Raquel. When he sets his mind on something, he won’t break it”, she said with a slight slur in her tone. Was she drunk already?

“I don’t think alcohol’s really my thing. I can’t understand why someone would like to drink this poison. It makes people do absolutely ridiculous things”, he said with a raised voice to make sure it got through to her over the absurdly loud music. “So you’ve never tried it?”, he shook his head. “And there’s absolutely no way I can pop your alcohol cherry?”, she asked again but this time with a smirk.

Dumbfounded by her crude statement, his mouth only hanged in disbelief and his face started to get red with embarrassment. Raquel looked at his facial expression and laughed. “You’re adorable, I’m only joking. Come on, let’s dance”

“I, uh…”

“Don’t tell me you don’t dance”, he smiled in agreement and Raquel only replied him with a sigh of disbelief.

“I just don’t have any sense of rhythm”, he admitted with an awkward grin.

“You know what. It doesn’t matter. Just dance with me? Please?”, she asked with doe-like eyes. He wanted to join her. In fact, he desperately wanted to join her but he was afraid of not only embarrassing himself but her too. Every fibre in his body was telling him to join her but his shyness was prohibiting him from doing so. “Sorry, I can’t”

Expecting her to be upset, Sergio was a little taken aback when she only shrugged it off. “Alright. Your loss, Marquina”, she said with her million-dollar smile. “Hey, Raquel! Join us on the dance floor”, Silene called out as she lead the rest of the gang out of the kitchen. “Sure”, she picked up a cup of beer and walked out with the group.

As he was left alone in the kitchen by himself, Sergio slapped himself on the head. Why couldn’t he just had accepted her invitation to dance. Joder!

He poured himself a cup of coke and since he was deep in thought, he didn’t head Agata call out to him as he came back into the kitchen. When he turned around, he got a shock seeing her stand right behind him. “Dios mio! You gave me a scare!”, he yelled in shock. “Haha, well I’m sorry dreamy but I did call out to you”, she joked and playfully ruffled his hair.

“Why are you in here? Shouldn’t you be dancing with Alicia?”

“Yea I know, but I wanted a drink. And seeing you in your own head, I figured maybe you needed company”, she explained, concerned about her friend’s wellbeing.

“I’m fine”, but really he was anything but. “Come on, Professor…I know you better than that. Talk to me”, but again she was met by his reluctance. “Fine, but if you change your mind, tell me. You know you can tell me anything right?”

“I know. Thanks”, this time instead of staying alone in the kitchen, he decided to follow Agata out. Not to dance, but just to watch his friends have fun. After all, someone had to be the responsible adult.

And that’s when he saw it. Raquel dancing with Mirko. It wasn’t a slow dance or anything but it was something a little more upbeat. Sure, he had seen her with Vicuna but seeing her actually being close to another person almost crushed him. He even knew Mirko was gay but it just unsettled him. “That could have been you, Sergio! Why are you so stupid?!”, he thought to himself.

So without missing a beat, he reached into Silene’s fridge to get himself a beer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this was a bit of a slow chapter but I promise that the next chapter will be juicy with action :D

**Author's Note:**

> That's the first chapter! Sorry if some of y'all found it draggy and boring but I promise there will be actual scenes with Raquel in the next chapters


End file.
